1. Field of Invention
This invention relates to ball carrier devices, especially for tennis balls and the like, adapted to be worn by a player. More specifically, the invention relates to a ball carrier in the form of a belt to be worn by a player about the waist, to which are relatively permanently affixed one or more cup-shaped resilient ball holders for firmly but removeably retaining a ball.
2. Prior Art
In the course of playing tennis and similar games, the player requires that a plurality of playing balls be rapidly accessable, so that successive balls may be placed in play upon a proceding ball being fouled or otherwise hit out of play. Players commonly deal with this problem by carrying extra balls in their pockets or by placing extra balls at a ground location. Neither of their techniques, however, are truly effective.
In an effort to solve this problem, various ball carrier devices to be worn by an individual player either by attachment to a belt worn by the player about the waist, or as clip-on attachments, have been described in the prior art. Clip-on devices have a major disadvantage that in sports involving considerable physical activity, e.g. tennis, or ping-pong, the clip can become loose and fall off. While belts to which ball holders are fixedly attached have also been described, such ball holders are cumbersome, and rather expensive to manufacture, and in some instances, are hazardous in use.
Thus, in U.S. Pat. No. 1,814,887, a belt is described which is to be worn by a basball umpire and which carries a number of baseballs for use. The belt has a plurality of spaced resilient open-ended supports, each in the form of two U-shaped flat spring members which are connected together in a cruciform at their base and attached to a belt to prevent rotation, one for each ball. Aside from the complexity of this construction, the projecting spring arms present a possible hazard to the wearer and the other players.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,074,180 describes a tennis ball holder comprising a pair of resiliently-mounted wire rings of approximately the same diameter as a tennis ball which are attached to a base, which in turn, hooks onto the belt or shorts of the player. U.S. Pat. No. 2,548,330 describes a golf ball holder formed of molded plastic material consisting of two hemispherical compartments to accept the golf balls which are held in place by two detents in the upper portion of each compartment. A clip is molded in the rear to fasten to the golfer's belt.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,873,009 describes a tennis ball holder including a base and a retaining ring which are formed together by means of a protrusion on the ring snapping into a recess in the upper portion of the base. The base has a cavity defining a spherical portion which is less then a hemisphere to accept a tennis ball. The base also has an integral clip composed of two fingers which clip over a player's shorts or pockets.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,062,482 describes a one-piece device for holding balls formed of resilient plastic and having an integral clip for attaching to the top edge of a wearer's garment.